CCARO

Scientific information about whales and dolphins does two main things: 

1. it gives us a clear and accurate idea of the current state of the environment, cetacean populations and ongoing human activities so that we can create effective cetacean conservation strategies 
2. it proves to the decision makers that such protection is indeed necessary and in most cases profitable for both human and nature. It is often impossible to get conservation laws or guidelines approved without scientific proof of the need for such protection especially if this decision is politically unpopular.

Although the waters of Trinidad and Tobago have been included in several short Caribbean-wide surveys, these were focused primarily on the larger species (humpbacks, sperm whales) and deep water habitats. There is need for more focused work to be done on local populations to determine what threats they face and how best we can protect them. This information can help to provide support for regional marine mammal protection and may also help add to the global knowledge and protection of certain species as two of the whales that use our waters are listed by the IUCN as threatened and many of the others as data deficient, which means that, world-wide, we do not have enough information about them to even determine if they are in trouble or not.

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Robert L. P